Mobile Commerce Daily’s Giselle Tsirulnik interviewed Kevin Ranford, director of Web marketing at 1800Flowers.com, Carle Place, NY. Here is what he had to say:

What is 1800Flowers doing in the mobile space this Mother’s Day?
Entering into our peak Mother’s Day season, 1800Flowers continues to drive a broad mobile strategy, reaching both our new and existing shoppers via optimized mobile Web, downloadable applications for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry, SMS alerts and reminders, and mobile display advertising.

Here is a screen grab of the 1800Flowers mobile site:

 
Can you describe any promotions? Banner ads? SMS keywords and short codes, etcetera.
We will have a special SMS promotion running in support of 1800Flowers’ “Spot A Mom” Mother’s Day branding campaign, wherein mobile users can text SPOTAMOM to “Flower” (356937) and receive an exclusive discount for their Mother’s Day purchase at 1800Flowers.
 
How does mobile fit the bill for seasonal marketing?
Mobile is an important channel in our seasonal and occasion-based marketing initiatives in that it gives our shopper an additional opportunity to shop with us when on-the-go, so that they never miss a special gift-giving occasion.

Here is a screen grab of the 1800Flowers iPhone application:

 
What is your mobile strategy for this year?
Our mobile strategy continues to center around having a broad mobile presence. In other words ensuring that our customers can engage and shop with us via a range of devices/operating systems, and that we’re leveraging mobile marketing channels to expand our reach.
 
How has mobile changed the retail business in just the past few years?
Mobile has changed the retail business in several key ways over the past few years. Retailers needed to learn how to market in a new channel to a unique shopping experience (ie: smaller devices, on-the-go shopping behavior).

Retailers then benefited from a new opportunity to reach their customers – both new and existing – for purchases while on-the-go, creating both a new revenue-generating opportunity and a new way to engage with customers (ie:
SMS and push notifications).
 
Do your mobile properties comprise a large amount of your overall sales?
While we keep performance numbers close to home for competitive reasons, I can say that we’re very pleased with the results we’ve experienced since getting involved in mobile almost five years ago, and we’re confident we’ll continue to experience significant growth in the channel.